Tooth Staining and Antibiotics

I’ve never been one to have blindingly white teeth, but I certainly wouldn’t be mistaken for British either. So imagine my surprise when out of nowhere I noticed brown staining on two of my teeth near the gumline! I figured maybe that’s what a cavity looks like or something because I’ve been fortunate enough to never have had any cavities in my adult teeth. And considering what I eat that seems pretty miraculous! But then I noticed more brown staining on a few teeth on the other side of my mouth and up near the top of the tooth so I knew it couldn’t be cavities. How could I suddenly go from having no cavities to having four? Then I realized that I had been on antibiotics for 3 weeks right before I noticed the staining. I did a little research to see if maybe the two were related and I discovered that yes, some antibiotics can cause tooth staining! I’m not sure if rinsing my mouth with water after drinking soda would’ve helped prevent the tooth staining, or if it’s more of an internal chemical reaction that causes the staining, but it has slowly begun to fade. I’ll have to find out which antibiotic I had been on. I know it was a fairly heavy-duty one because I was taking it to kick a sinus infection that I’d had for about two months that hadn’t responded to previous courses of antibiotics. So keep that in mind next time you’re on antibiotics!